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LITHUANIANS

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Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 791 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LITHUANIANS and LETTS, two kindred peoples of Indo-See also:

European origin, which inhabit several western provinces of See also:Russia and the See also:north-eastern parts of See also:Poland and See also:Prussia, on the shores of the Baltic See also:Sea, and in the basins of the Niemen and of the Duna. Large colonies of Lithuanian and Lettic emigrants have been established in the See also:United States. The two races number about 3,500,000, of whom 1,300,000 are Letts. Little is known about their origin, and nothing about the See also:time of their See also:appearance in the See also:country they now inhabit. See also:Ptolemy mentions (iii. 5) two clans, the Galindae and Sudeni, who probably belonged to the western subdivision of this racial See also:group, the Borussians. In the loth See also:century the Lithuanians were already known under the name of Litva, and, together with two other branches of the same See also:stem—the Borussians and the Letts—they occupied the See also:south-eastern See also:coast of the Baltic Sea from the See also:Vistula to the Duna, extending north-See also:east towards the Lakes Vierzi-jarvi and See also:Peipus, south-east to the See also:watershed between the affluents of the Baltic and those of the See also:Black Sea, and south to the See also:middle course of the Vistula (See also:Brest Litovsk)—a See also:tract bounded by Finnish tribes in the north, and by Slays elsewhere. Inhabiting a forested, marshy country the Lithuanians have been able to maintain their See also:national See also:character, notwithstanding the vicissitudes of their See also:history. Their See also:chief See also:priest, Krive-Kriveyto (the See also:judge of the See also:judges), under whom were seventeen classes of priests and elders, worshipped in the forests; the \Vaidelots brought their offerings to the divinities at the See also:foot of oaks; even now, the veneration of See also:great oaks is a widely spread See also:custom in the villages of the Lithuanians, and even of the Letts. Even in the loth century the Lithuanian stem was divided into three See also:main branches:—the Borussians or Prussians; the Letts (who See also:call themselves Latvis, whilst the name under which they are known in See also:Russian See also:chronicles, Letygola, is an See also:abbreviation of Lalvin-galas, " the confines of Lithuania ") ; and the Lithuanians, or rather Liluanians, Litva or Letuvininkal,—these last being subdivided into Lithuanians proper, and Zhmud' (Zmudz, Samogitians or Zenrailey), the " Lowlanders." To these main branches must be added the Yatvyags, or Yadzvings, a warlike, black-haired See also:people who inhabited the forests at the upper tributaries of the Niemen and See also:Bug, and the survivors of whom are easily distinguishable as a mixture with See also:White-Russians and Mazurs in some parts of See also:Grodno, Plotsk, See also:Lomza and See also:Warsaw. See also:Nestor's See also:chronicle distinguishes also the Zhemgala, who later became known under the name of Semigallia, and in the loth century inhabited the See also:left See also:bank of the Duna. Several authors consider also as Lithuanians the Kors of Russian chronicles, or Courons of Western authors, who inhabited the See also:peninsula of See also:Courland, and the Golad, a See also:clan settled on the See also:banks of the Porotva, tributary of the Moskva See also:river, which seems to have been thrown far from the main stem during its See also:migration to the north.

The Krivichi,who inhabited what is now the See also:

government of See also:Smolensk, seem to belong to the same stem. Their name recalls the Krive-Kriveyto, and their ethnological features recall the Lithuanians; but they are now as much See also:Slavonic as Lithuanian. All these peoples are only ethnographical subdivisions, and each of them was subdivided into numerous See also:independent clans and villages, separated from one another by forests and marshes; they had no towns ors fortified places. The Lithuanian territory thus See also:lay open to See also:foreign invasions, and the Russians as well as the See also:German crusaders availed themselves of the opportunity. The Borussians soon See also:fell under the dominion of Germans, and ceased to constitute a See also:separate See also:nationality, leaving only their name to the See also:state which later became Prussia. The Letts were driven farther to the north, mixing there with Livs and Ehsts, and fell under the dominion of the Livonian See also:order. Only the Lithuanians proper, together with Samogitians, succeeded in forming an independent state. The See also:early history of this state is imperfectly known. During the continuous See also:petty See also:war carried on against Slavonic invasions, the military chief of one of the clans, Ryngold, acquired, in the first See also:half of the 13th century, a certain preponderance over other clans of Lithuania and Black Russia (Yatvyags), as well as over the republics of Red Russia. At this time, the invasions of the Livonian order becoming more frequent, and always extending southward, there was a See also:general feeling of the See also:necessity of some organization to resist them, and Ryngold's son, Mendowg, availed himself of this opportunity to pursue the policy of his See also:father. He made different concessions to the order, ceded to it several parts of Lithuania, and even agreed to be baptized, in 1250, at Novograd Litovsk, receiving in See also:exchange a See also:crown from See also:Innocent IV., with which he was crowned See also:king of Lithuanians. He also ceded the whole of Lithuania to the order in See also:case he should See also:die without leaving offspring.

But he had accepted See also:

Christianity only to increase his See also:influence among other clans; and, as soon as he had consolidated a See also:union between Lithuanians, Samogitians and Cours, he relapsed, proclaiming, in 1 z6o, a general uprising of the Lithuanian people against the Livonian order. The yoke was shaken off, but See also:internal See also:wars followed, and three years later Mendowg was killed. About the end of the 13th century a new See also:dynasty of rulers of Lithuania was founded by Lutuwer, whose second son, See also:Gedymin (1316-1341), with the aid of fresh forces he organized through his relations with Red Russia, established something like See also:regular government; he at the same time ex-tended his dominions over Russian countries—over Black Russia (Novogrodok, Zditov, Grodno, See also:Slonim and Volkovysk) and the principalities of See also:Polotsk, Tourovsk, See also:Pinsk, See also:Vitebsk and See also:Volhynia. He named himself Rex Lelhowinorum et midterm Ruthenorum. In 1325 he concluded a treaty with Poland against the Livonian order, which treaty was the first step towards the union of both countries realized two centuries later. The seven sons of Gedymin considered themselves as quite independent; but two of them, See also:Olgierd and Keistut, soon became the more powerful. They represented two different tendencies which existed at that time in Lithuania. Olgierd, whose See also:family relations attracted him towards the south, was the See also:advocate of union with Russia; rather politician than See also:warrior, he increased his influence by See also:diplomacy and by organization. His wife and sons being Christians, he also soon agreed to be baptized in the See also:Greek See also:Church. Keistut represented the revival of the Lithuanian nationality. Continually engaged in wars with See also:Livonia, and remaining true to the national See also:religion, he became the national legendary See also:hero. In 1345 both See also:brothers agreed to re-establish the great principality of Lithuania, and, after having taken See also:Vilna, the old See also:sanctuary of the country, all the brothers recognized the supremacy of Olgierd.

His son, Jagiello, who married the See also:

queen of Poland, Yadviga, after having been baptized in the Latin Church, was crowned, on the 14th of See also:February 1386, king of Poland. At the beginning of the 15th century Lithuania extended her dominions as far east as See also:Vyazma on the banks of the Moskva river, the See also:present government of See also:Kaluga, and Poutivl, and south-east as far as See also:Poltava, the shores of the Sea of See also:Azov, and Haji-See also:bey (See also:Odessa), thus including See also:Kiev and See also:Lutsk. The union with Poland remained, however, but nominal until 1569, when See also:Sigismund See also:Augustus was king of Poland. In the 16th century Lithuania did not extend its See also:power so far east and south-east as two centuries before, but it constituted a compact state, including Polotsk, Moghilev, See also:Minsk, Grodno, See also:Kovno, Vilna, Brest, and reaching as far south-east as See also:Chernigov. From the union with Poland, the history of Lithuania becomes a See also:part of Poland's history, Lithuanians and White-Russians partaking of the See also:fate of the See also:Polish See also:kingdom (see POLAND: History). After its three partitions, they fell under the dominion of the Russian See also:empire. In 1792 Russia took the provinces of Moghilev and Polotsk, and in 1793 those of Vilna, Troki, See also:Novgorod-Syeversk, Brest and Vitebsk. In 1797 all these provinces were united together, constituting the " Lithuanian government " (Litovskaya Gubernia). But the name of Lithuanian provinces was usually given only to the governments of Vilna and Kovno, and, though See also:Nicholas I. prohibited the use of this name, it is still used, even in See also:official documents. In Russia, all the White-Russian See also:population of the former Polish Lithuania are usually considered as Lithuanians, the name of Zhmud being restricted to Lithuanians proper. The ethnographical limits of the Lithuanians are undefined, and their number is variously estimated. The Letts occupy a part of the Courland peninsula of Livonia and of Vitebsk, a few other settlements being spread also in the governments of Kovno, St See also:Petersburg and Moghilev.

The Lithuanians proper inhabit the governments of Kovno, Vilna, Suvalki and Grodno; while the Samogitians or Zhmud inhabit the governments of Kovno and Suvalki. To these must be added about 200,000 Borussians, the whole number of Lithuanians and Letts in Russia being, according to the See also:

census of 2897, 3,094,469. They are slowly extending towards the south, especially the Letts; numerous emigrants have penetrated into Slavonic lands as far as the government of See also:Voronezh. The Lithuanians are well built; the See also:face is mostly elongated, the features See also:fine; the very See also:fair See also:hair, See also:blue eyes and delicate skin distinguish them from Poles and Russians. Their See also:dress is usually See also:plain in comparison with that of Poles, and the predominance in it of greyish See also:colours has been frequently noticed. Their chief occupation is See also:agriculture. The trades in towns are generally carried on by men of other races—mostly by Germans, See also:Jews or Poles. The only exception is afforded to some extent by the Letts. The Samogitians are See also:good hunters, and all Lithuanians are given to See also:apiculture and See also:cattle breeding. But the Lithuanians, as well in the Baltic provinces as in the central ones, were not until the most See also:recent time proprietors of the See also:soil they tilled. They have given a few families to the Russian See also:nobility, but the great See also:mass of the people became See also:serfs of foreign landowners, German and Polish, who reduced them to the greatest misery. Since the Polish insurrection of 1863, the Russian government has given to the Lithuanians the See also:land of the Polish proprietors on much easier terms than in central Russia; but the allotments of soil and the redemption taxes are very unequally distributed; and a not insignificant number of peasants (the chinsheviki) were even deprived of the land they had for centuries considered their own.

The Letts remain in the same stateas before, and are restrained from emigrating en masse only by coercive See also:

measures. The Letts of Courland, with the exception of about 50,000 who belong to the Greek Church, are See also:Lutherans. Nearly all can read. Those of the government of Vitebsk, who were under Polish dominion, are See also:Roman Catholics, as well as the Lithuanians proper, a part of whom, however, have returned to the Greek Church, in which they were before the union with Poland. The Samogitians are Roman Catholics; they more than other Lithuanians have conserved their national features. But all Lithuanians have maintained much of their See also:heathen practices and creed; the names of See also:pagan divinities, very numerous in the former See also:mythology, are continually mentioned in songs, and also in See also:common speech. See also:Language and Literature.—The Lithuanian, Lettic or Lettish and Borussian or Old Prussian See also:languages together constitute a distinct linguistic subdivision, commonly called the Baltic subdivision, within the Indo-European family. They have many See also:affinities to the Slavonic languages, and are sometimes included with them in a single linguistic group, the Balto-Slavic. In their phonology, however, though not in their structure the Baltic languages appear to be more See also:primitive than the Slavonic. Lithuanian, for example, retains the archaic diphthongs which disappear in Slavonic—Lith. veidas, " face," Gr. elbos, O.S. vide. Among other noteworthy phonological characteristics of Lithuanian are the See also:conversion of k into a sibilant, the loss of h and See also:change of all aspirates into tenues and the retention of primitive consonantal noun-terminations, e.g. the final s in Sans. Vykets, Lith. vilkas, O.S. viiilkil.

Lettic is phonologically less archaic than Lithuanian, although in a few cases it has preserved Indo-European forms which have been changed in Lithuanian, e.g. the s and z which have become Lith. sz (sh) and z` (zh). The See also:

accent in Lithuanian is See also:free; in Lettic, and apparently in Old Prussian, it ultimately became fixed on the first syllable. In its See also:morphology Lettic represents a later See also:stage of de.elopment than Lithuanian, their mutual relationship being analogous to that between Old High German and See also:Gothic: Both languages have pre-served seven out of the eight Indo-European cases; Lithuanian has three See also:numbers, but Lettic has lost the dual (except in diwi, " two " and abbi, " both ") ; the neuter gender, which still appears in Lithuanian pronouns, has also been entirely lost in Lettic; in Lithuanian there are four See also:simple tenses (present, future, imperfect, preterite), but in Lettic the imperfect is wanting. In both languages the number of periphrastic verb-forms and of diminutives is large; in both there are traces of a suffix See also:article; and both have enriched their vocabularies with many words of foreign, especially German, Russian and Polish origin. The numerous Lithuanian dialects are commonly divided into High or See also:Southern, which changes ty and dy into cz, dz, and See also:Low or See also:Northern, which retains ty, dy. Lettic is divided into High (the eastern dialects), Low (spoken in N.W. Courland) and Middle (the See also:literary language). Old Prussian ceased to be a spoken language in the 17th century; its literary remains, consisting chiefly of three catechisms and two brief vocabularies, date almost entirely from the See also:period 1517–1561 and are insufficient to permit of any thorough reconstruction of the See also:grammar. The literary history of the Lithuanians and Letts See also:dates from the See also:Reformation and comprises three clearly defined periods. (1) Up to 1700 the chief printed books were of a liturgical character. (2) During the 18th century a vigorous educational See also:movement began; dictionaries, grammars and other instructive See also:works were compiled, and written poems began to take the See also:place of songs preserved by oral tradition. (3) The revival of national sentiment at the beginning of the 19th century resulted in the See also:establishment of See also:newspapers and the collection and publication of the national folk-See also:poetry.

In both literatures, works of a religious character predominate, and both are See also:

rich in popular See also:ballads, folk-tales and fables. The first See also:book printed in Lithuanian was a See also:translation of See also:Luther's shorter See also:Catechism (See also:Konigsberg, 1547) ; other See also:translations of devotional or liturgical works followed, and by 1701 59 Lithuanian books had appeared, the most noteworthy being those of the preacher J. Bretkun (1535–1602). The spread of Calvinism led to the publication, in 1701, of a Lithuanian New Testament. The first See also:dictionary was printed in 1749. But perhaps the most remarkable See also:work of the second period was The Four Seasons, a See also:pastoral poem in hexameters by See also:Christian Donalitius (1714–1780), which was edited by Nesselmann (Konigsberg, 1869) with a German translation and notes. In the 19th century various collections of fables and folk-tales were published, and an epic, the Onikshta See also:Grove, was written by See also:Bishop Baranoski. But it was in journalism that the chief See also:original work of the third period was done. F. Kelch (1801–1877) founded the first Lithuanian newspaper, and between 1834 and 1895 no fewer than 34 Lithuanian See also:periodicals were published in the United States alone. Luther's Catechism (Konigsberg, 1586) was the first book printed in Lettic, as in the See also:sister speech. In the 17th century various translations of See also:psalms, See also:hymns and other religious works were published, the See also:majority being Calvinistic in See also:tone.

The educational movement of the 18th century was inaugurated by G. F. Stender (1714–1796), author of a Lettic dictionary and grammar, of poems, tales and of a Book of See also:

Wisdom which treats of elementary See also:science and history. Much educational work was subsequently done by the Lettic Literary Society, which publishes a See also:magazine (Magazin, See also:Mitau, from 1827), and by the " See also:Young Letts," who published various periodicals and translations of foreign See also:classics, and endeavoured to free their language and thought from German influences. Somewhat ' family) is encircled by See also:bone, the last molar has a third See also:lobe, the single similar tasks were undertaken by the " Young Lithuanians," whose first magazine the Auszra (" See also:Dawn ") was founded in 1883. From 1890 to 1910 the literature of both peoples was marked by an ever-increasing nationalism; among the names most prominent during this period may be mentioned those of the dramatist Steperman and the poet See also:Martin See also:Lap, both of whom wrote in Lettic.

End of Article: LITHUANIANS

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